Xenoblade Chronicles

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Video game fandom
NameXenoblade Chronicles
Abbreviation(s)XB, XC
Developer(s)Monolith Soft
Release dateJune 10, 2010 (Xenoblade Chronicles), December 1, 2017 (Xenoblade Chronicles 2), July 29, 2022 (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)
Related articles on Fanlore.

Xenoblade Chronicles (ゼノブレイド, zenubureido) is a JRPG video game series created by Monolith Soft. It currently consists of three main series titles and one spin-off game. It's known simply as Xenoblade in Japan.

Overview

Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 are all designed to be playable as standalone titles, however they do exist within the same continuity and connect to each other through worldbuilding as well as a handful of shared characters. So far, there are no signs of Xenoblade Chronicles X existing within that same continuity.

Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles and Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 3 feature in the Super Smash Bros. series, with Shulk being added in SSB4 and Pyra and Mythra being a single DLC character in SSBU.

Games

  • Xenoblade Chronicles (2010 in Japan, 2011 in Europe, 2012 in North America, 2015 on the 3DS, 2020 for the Definitive Edition)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X (2015)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (2017)
    • Torna: The Golden Country DLC (2018)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (2022)

Fandom

Operation Rainfall

The first Xenoblade Chronicles game was initially not intended to be released in North America. This prompted fans to organise under the name Operation Rainfall to campaign for its international release, alongside the games Pandora's Tower and The Last Story, which were in a similar situation. The campaign eventually succeeded and all three games were released in all territories.[1]

Shipping

The canon ships of each main series game (Shulk/Fiora, Rex/Mythra and Rex/Pyra, Noah/Mio) are all fairly popular in the fandom. However, in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Mòrag Ladair/Brighid, a ship consisting of two non-protagonist party members, is much more popular than the canon ships on AO3, and in Xenoblade Chronicles, the influx of fanfictions coming from Super Smash Bros. has resulted in the top ship by number on AO3 being the crossover pairing Robin/Shulk.

Xenoblade Chronicles X Continuity

While Xenoblade Chronicles X doesn't quite enjoy the same popularity as the other three in the fandom, owing to it being different from the other games as well as being released only on the low-selling Wii U system, fans of the game have made many theories on how it might fit into the shared continuity of the other three games.

Memes

A common form of meme in the fandom consists of using ingame dialogue audio out of context or altered to make them sound funny. A particularly popular form consists of variations of the "you're a lifesaver" line, which appears in all three main games.[2]

Fan Events

Notable Fanworks

Fanart

Fanfiction

Zines

Archives & Fannish Links

Resources

References